Day 4 - On the Road in Mid- Pennsylvania

Today we left the land of broasted chicken and turned West onto I-76, (take I-81, Exit 52), the PA Turnpike. It slices right through the middle of Pennsylvania, through a small slice of West Virginia, to Ohio, There are definitely some pros and cons to this route.

For the most part it is a very smooth 4 and 6 lane blacktop
expressway. The scenery is great, especially at this time of year when we reached the mountainous center part of the State.

On the other hand, there is a lot of construction going on to update the bridges and roads. There are also 4 tunnels through the mountains on this route and they were not popular at all with Niki and K.C. The biggest surprises though were the clearances under the older bridges. That is something we kinda have too pay attention too. "Bertha" is a tad over 13' tall on her bare tires, and when we first saw signs telling us the short sides of some of the bridges was 12' 6", it did get our attention! Thankfully we saw each of them in time and switched to the speedy lanes which offered better clearances. The standard clearance varies some from State to State but a minimum clearance of 13' 6" is pretty much the average, Nationwide. Otherwise they post signs. We have the Trucker's Atlas which does list the low bridges by routes, (but Jack just took it for granted that an Interstate would have good clearance bridges). Another lesson learned!

I forgot to mention that we started out in overcast, gray and misty conditions and when we came out of the second tunnel, the sky was blue and the sun was out, shining on the peak leaf colors in the mountains and valleys of Central PA. It was really an amazing happening and such a change from one side of a mountain to the other!

Wednesday night finds us at DONEGAL CAMPGROUND, Donegal, PA (Map I - Point D I-76, Exit 91). $32.95/Night, FHU. 179 miles from Jonestown, PA. A very quiet setting in a forest of oak trees. No other transients here so we have it to ourselves. The sites are somewhat close together so it probably really gets loud and rocking on Saturday nights in July and August. No rain, the sun is shining, and we have a window open. Cable TV works well here and we are looking
forward to tonight's Presidential debate.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we move onward to Zanesville, Ohio for two nights.

On the sunny road,

Niki, Jack, and K.C.

p.s. A couple of our friends have written to ask what the "Watergate" dish is from our previous note. It is a dessert made of lime jello with cool whip, little marshmallows, and nuts. Rather tasty for a green concoction.

Regarding our survey: So far we have found that all 3 campgrounds have had trouble with speeders and their main deterrent was to chase the culprits down and "talk" to them. All would like and answer to the problem.

Good Fuel Stops:
Flying J Exit 70, 25 miles West after Donegal

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